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Duke Minoosh
|status = Inactive (Retired) |occupation = Vault Hunter (formerly) Leisure citizen of Eden-6 |aliases = The Fable (formerly) |relatives = Unknown|affiliation = Gemini Corporation (formerly) |marital = Single |age = 55 (as of No One Else) |species = Human |gender = Male|height = 5'11" (180 cm) |weight = 178lbs |eyes = Dark brown }} Duke Minoosh is a middle-aged African-American formerly known as the Fable. He served the Gemini Corporation for many years, serving initially as a Vault Hunter in the Delta Regiment, before advancing to the Alpha Regiment. He retired after realising that his older age was starting to catch up with him, especially after the Enlightener suggested it, although Duke was evidently already considering it, as he stated numerous times that he believed his job was going to kill him one day. His Action Skill, Die Hard, allows him to focus momentarily and gain 100% accuracy with any weapon, regardless of drawbacks such as recoil. Matt believed his ability to rapidly land multiple damaging headshots in a row made him the third deadliest Vault Hunter out of the Vault Hunters in the Alpha Regiment, albeit very close to Violet Parker, the second deadliest. Biography Earlier Life Duke's history prior to joining Gemini is unknown. He once hinted he had a history on Eden-6, claiming he went to the planet not just for leisure, but also to conclude some "unfinished business". It is likely Gemini are aware of his history, as Matt claimed the corporation detailing every Vault Hunter, with no exceptions. No one seemed to read his file however. At some point he joined the Gemini Corporation, becoming a Vault Hunter in the Delta Regiment. It was implied he spent years in this position, before ultimately being moved up to the Alpha Regiment, the apex of the corporation's Vault Hunters. He was based in the CCG, much like his fellow Vault Hunters. Working with Gemini Earlier Service Duke spent a long time working with the corporation, having been around since its first recruitment of Vault Hunters only a few years since the company's inception. He perfected his ability of Die Hard four years into his service in the Delta Regiment, leading into his promotion to the Alpha Regiment. There he met the likes of Caine Brooke, Violet Parker, Daniel Marx and Arcturus Vaus, and particularly got along with Arcturus. He met Matt Rye and Aurora Lux not too long after, being introduced to them in a meeting in Central Capricorn Galactica, where the two Vault Hunters had now been moved. He was particularly intrigued by the Anomaly, and read his file at least twice, learning his history and why he had come to the CCG and become a Vault Hunter. Unbeknownst to him, his fellow Vault Hunters also inspected Matt's file under the same guise of wanting to know about him. He was present when Axton was found by the corporation on Divaloca, and was told not to hunt the ex-ally, as Matt and Caine had already been assigned to the task. While frustrated that he could not aid his friends in capturing his supposed enemy, Duke was calm, choosing not to overreact and obediently followed his superiors' orders. When Matt betrayed the corporation, Duke was upset and confused, however he ultimately respected the Anomaly's decision and still considered him to be a friend, unlike Caine or Dan. Later Service Duke continued to serve Gemini but slowly grew doubts that he was going to survive until retirement. At some point, he was brought to Lima Base One on Elpis, presumably to deal with the Crimson Raider resistance. The Fable operated under command of Commander James Sharp. When Caine orchestrated an attack on Sanctuary, Duke reluctantly followed his orders to accompany the Executioner, fully aware that they intended to collect the Anomaly from Crimson Raiders. As per Caine's demand, he applied concussive force to Sanctuary's powerful shield using a grenade launcher over his preferred sniper rifle. After the Executioner was apprehended by the Anomaly and subsequently catapulted out of Sanctuary, the Fable called remotely for his leader's hoverboard to catch him, so that he wouldn't fall back down again. Later, Duke approached his boss, Commander Sharp, and asked him about when Sharp planned to send them on another assignment. He had grown restless thanks to Arcturus, and Violet had begun to annoy him with her insistence for someone to hurt. Sharp informed him that he was planning to send them on a full assault, incredibly intensive, but Duke doubted the success rate of this, pointing out such assaults took precision to win and only using Vault Hunters would just make the mission even harder. Sharp reassured him that he wouldn't be sending them on a mission that he didn't have complete faith that they would succeed. Duke did not leave at that point, wondering when this assignment was going to be given. Sharp told him it would be soon, but it was clear to the Fable that the commander was more focussed on his monitor. He said that they would have to deal with something, pointing to the monitor in front of him. Duke went to look, and saw Matt Rye, and his Crimson Raider friends, bypassing the disintegration grid at the entrance to Lima Base One. Alarmed at this infiltration, the Vault Hunter demanded to know when this occurred, thinking it was recorded footage, to which Sharp informed him it was live. Duke immediately went to call for Guards to deal with the issue, but the commander stopped him and reminded him that this meant that the Anomaly was walking into a trap. The Fable expressed concerns that they may get caught sooner than intended, however Commander Sharp refuted this, saying they weren't so stupid. He was then given permission to leave, which he did compliantly. Eventually, Sharp called for the assembly of the whole Alpha Regiment, Duke among them, and sent them down to Pandora while Matt was occupied rescuing Gaige. Briefly, Duke was the second-in-command to Daniel, and served under him while they invaded Sanctuary. Using extra firepower that Gemini had provided, they were able to break through the shield and freed Caine from his imprisonment. The Alpha Regiment then began attacking the Crimson Raiders. They faced unprecedented difficulty while doing so, although Duke remained levelheaded, compared to Daniel's frustration, and fought the Crimson Raiders, causing severe damage to Sanctuary. When Matt and his friends returned, Duke was not aware and continued fighting under Caine's command. He was ambushed by Zer0, though he quickly adapted and began firing at the Assassin. However, Zer0 fired first, before Duke could charge Die Hard to the max, and the shot fired through his scope, damaging both the weapon and his shield. He was forced to abandon the sniper and switch to a custom pistol. He was distracted by Mordecai briefly, which gave Zer0 enough time to activate his Deception ability to disorientate the Fable. After a moment of scanning for the Assassin, Duke was able to find the Vault Hunter and shot down his invisibility. Though, Zer0 apparently expected this and shot the gun out of the Fable's hand and knocked him out. When Commander Sharp arrived in the Taurus spaceship, Duke's body was dragged over to the transmat beam directioning pad that Sharp had designated. The transmat was activated and Duke was transported to Taurus and was subsequently warped away, along with the rest of the Alpha Regiment sans Caine, presumably to Central Capricorn Galactica. Final Assignment Sometime later, Duke was given the assignment to stop the Crimson Raiders from entering the Vault, but to wait until for if/when Commander Sharp's signal went cold. Once it did, he boarded Taurus and was warped to the Vault's location, between the Highlands, the Dust and [[w:c:borderlands:Lynchwood|'Lynchwood']]. Upon arrival at the Vault, he saw that Sharp had been betrayed and imprisoned by his own soldiers. Having gotten tired of all the animosity between them, Duke elected to propose a truce, pointing out that they had a common goal (being the Vault) and that they had no need to fight them. Their truce was accepted when it was realised that fighting them would only be wasting time. He was not as nonplussed as his teammates where when Matt warned them that the technology inside the Vault was not theirs to obtain. Duke fought alongside the Crimson Raiders against the Dreamer, abiding by Matt's request for them to use shock weapons, as the Vault Monster was weak to them. He covered Zer0 while he fired at the Dreamer, switching out with the Assassin intermittently, acknowledging his impressive marksmanship. He aided Matt in dislodging and destroying the Dreamer's control crystal, despite having little clue what that would do or why the Anomaly was so insistent in removing it. Along with Mordecai and Zer0, Duke shot at the jewel and scored numerous critical hits, landing them in unison especially when Matt used his Chronokinesis to move them so they could get a better shot. He was knocked out when the gem was destroyed, but he woke up very quickly. Retirement Duke tried to help when Gaige was stabbed by the Dreamer and killed, however he was unable to conjure the right words to comfort the Anomaly. He was concerned further when Matt handed a powerful weapon to Caine, but grew great respect for both the Executioner and the Anomaly when Caine refused to use the weapon. Much like his fellow Vault Hunters, Duke was shocked to see Amelia Rye return from years of death, horrified by her state as the emotionless host of the Dreamer. He complied with Matt's request to turn around so that Amelia could not use her precognition to view the future, so that the Anomaly would be blocking it. When Matt was given the possibility of godhood, and the prospect of rewriting all tragedy, Duke was just as uncertain as his allies. However, he, like his allies, considered the idea, and commented that he had been in enough battles to become sick of them, so it would be nice to be completely rid of them. After Matt was possessed by the Enlightener, he was forced to announce his contemplated retirement when the Eridian revealed that Duke would not be partaking in an oncoming great war. He was somewhat surprised to hear that both Daniel Marx and Arcturus were also planning to retire. Violet was shocked by this, and the Fable professed that the job was going to kill him one day, and that he was getting too old for it, although he insisted he wasn't being cowardly for not wanting to participate in yet another war. After Matt passed into the Infinite, Duke left on the Taurus. He returned to the CCG, where he announced his retirement to Director McCain, along with Dan and Arcturus. While annoyed at their decision to leave the corporation, McCain acknowledged their long-time service and sanctioned their leave from the organisation. Status Duke is currently relaxing on Eden-6, having decided to settle there due to some "unfinished business" on the planet. He is not complicit in Gemini operations and cares little for them, and supports the Crimson Raider Empire, although he makes no action to help them personally. He is grateful for their efforts to maintain the paradise state of Eden-6. Legacy Aurora approached him and asked if she could use his Vault Hunter title, which he accepted. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Die Hard': Duke has the ability of Die Hard, which allows him to instantly become a master of virtually any weapon, allowing him to focus it and gain 100% accuracy with said weapon. Additionally, Duke can increase the damage output of any weapon, so as long as he focussed for long enough. This damage will increase over time the more shots he hits in a row, which he called "combos", however he will lose accuracy with each shot. He gains more abilities the more masterful he is with each weapon, such as gaining a boost to a random characteristic of his weapon, such as magazine size, fire rate, bullet speed, reload speed, etc. Damage and accuracy are excluded from the set of random characteristics that can be boosted, as they are already bolstered from the ability by default. Abilities *'Masterful Marksmanship:' While his ability plays a role in his gun performance, Duke is already a master with weapons. He is incredibly versatile, able to use any type of weapon without moment's notice, despite having only two preferred weapon types. The Fable is well aware of the applications of each weapons manufacturer, conscious of their bonuses and drawbacks. He knows that Hyperion weapons are equipped with stabilisers, so when he fought Axton in a training exercise, he knew to be more mobile as it would be harder for the Commando to hit him within the first few shots. Duke specialises in single-shot weapons, so as such seldom uses Dahl weapons, and is particularly fond of Jakobs weapons. *'Honed senses: '''Duke's experience as a soldier has resulted in sharp senses of smell, sight, taste, feeling and taste. He is able to see perfectly through his bandana, which is only semi-transparent, and was able to detect where Zer0 was hiding while he was in Deception. Equipment *'Streamlined Superzoom Jakobs sniper: 'Duke possesses one of the only superzoom Jakobs snipers to ever be made, having had it commissioned early into his employment at the Gemini Corporation. It is streamlined and painted black with orange highlights. Reportedly, Duke paid Jakobs eight thousand dollars to have it made and painted, though he fortunately made it back within a few months. The scope had a custom zoom, adjusted by a dial on the side, allowing him to reach up to 100x magnification, with the lowest being 15x zoom. The scope was destroyed by Zer0, but he later had it repaired. *'Custom Atlas pistol: 'Duke uses a custom Atlas handgun as an auxiliary to his sniper, in case he was, for whatever reason, unable to use his sniper. The weapon was customised to have a larger mag size than usual to overcome the low magazine capacit characteristic of most Atlas weapons. It is also equipped with a silencer, to massively reduce recoil and to cater for stealthier missions. *'Bandana: '''Duke wears a translucent bandana around his eyes, although he can see perfectly through it. Behind the Scenes *Duke's Action Skill, Die Hard, is named after the popular 1988 action thriller. Category:Vault Hunters Category:Gemini Personnel